incident

American  

[in-si-duhnt] / ˈɪn sɪ dənt /

noun

• incidents
  plural

1. an individual occurrence or event.

   Synonyms:

   happening

2. a distinct piece of action, or an episode, as in a story or play.

3. something that occurs casually in connection with something else.

4. something appertaining or attaching to something else.

5. an occurrence of seemingly minor importance, especially involving nations or factions between which relations are strained and sensitive, that can lead to serious consequences, as an outbreak of hostilities or a war.

   border incident; international incident.

6. an embarrassing occurrence, especially of a social nature.

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adjective

1. likely or apt to happen (usually followed byto ).

2. naturally appertaining.

   hardships incident to the life of an explorer.

3. conjoined or attaching, especially as subordinate to a principal thing.

4. falling or striking on something, as light rays.

incident British  

/ ˈɪnsɪdənt /

noun

1. a distinct or definite occurrence; event

2. a minor, subsidiary, or related event or action

3. a relatively insignificant event that might have serious consequences, esp in international politics

4. a public disturbance

   the police had reports of an incident outside a pub

5. the occurrence of something interesting or exciting

   the trip was not without incident

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adjective

1. related (to) or dependent (on)

2. having a subsidiary or minor relationship (with)

3. (esp of a beam of light or particles) arriving at or striking a surface

   incident electrons

Synonym Usage

See event.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonincident
  noun
• incidentless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• incidents
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of incident

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Middle French, from Medieval Latin incident- (stem of incidēns “a happening,” noun use of present participle of Latin verb incidere “to fall upon, befall”), equivalent to Latin in- in- ² + -cid- (combining form of cad- “fall”) + -ent- -ent; see cadenza

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Explanation

An incident refers to a particular happening, sometimes criminal but always noteworthy. If there was a food fight in the cafeteria, an e-mail might be sent to the parents of all students telling of the incident at school. The word incident is quite vague. It can refer to a humorous occurrence or a violent one, something that disturbed one's routine or something unusual that happened. If a child screams in a library, it's not that unusual, but if an adult does, that's an incident! As an adjective, incident is used in the field of physics to describe particles or radiation that fall on a surface. The incident light showed how dirty the windows were.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

incident incidents

Police said they collected evidence from the scene and identified a possible suspect, and using license plate reader technology were able to place the suspect in the area at the time of the incident.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026

As part of the 5 Rifles, he had been taking part in Exercise Combat Spirit on the day of the incident.

From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026

The tragic incident and unfavorable weather slowed customer traffic in October, the company said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026

The suit will claim that federal agents lied about the incident and that the purpose of the government’s prosecution was to conceal agents’ behavior the day of the shooting.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026

He gave her a day to recover—and the deputy commander was discharged from the regiment, although it’s not obvious this was a direct result of the incident.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein

Several aircraft parked at Dubai International were also hit in separate incidents.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

There have been 26 reported incidents in the kingdom in recent days alone, according to Acled.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026

"The paltry fines that usually follow incidents of this nature are not a deterrent and the current 'system' is broken."

From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026

No explosives have been found during searches, and it is not clear if the incidents, some claimed by a little known group, are related.

From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026

In the wake of these incidents, Congress passed a series of New Deal reforms that gave the federal government its first comprehensive criminal code and the bureau a sweeping mission.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

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Related Words

• circumstance
• episode
• event
• fact
• matter
• scene

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